Whether shades are cheap or pricey, make sure they have sun protection

March 29, 2006|By James H. Burnett III, Knight Ridder Newspapers

For Nancy and David Auffarth, reasons for choosing sunglasses couldn't be more different than their gender.

One wears high-end shades. The other, cheapies.

One goes for durability. The other a cool look.

But never during their occasional sunglass "hunt" has the issue of safety and protection from the sun come up, "because," Nancy said, "my $20 knockoffs offer me plenty of protection."

There was a time eye experts would have scoffed at such a claim and insisted that David Auffarth's $90 Pacific Traders were far safer than his wife's knockoffs. But all kidding aside, many experts say, Nancy Auffarth is probably right.

"Most high-end sunglasses have glass lenses, which are pretty much guaranteed to have 100 percent protection from UV rays," said Kenny Moscot, a licensed optician and president of the respected New York eye shop Sol Moscot Opticians.

"And most cheaper ones have plastic lenses. As they're made, the plastic only provides about 60 percent protection. But what they do is dye the plastic shades darker, bringing the protection level up to 100 percent. So it is true that they are safer today."

That fact is nice to know, the Auffarths said, but they insist that toughness and appearance were their main criteria.

"I guess I really wasn't thinking medical reasons," said David Auffarth, while the New York couple was on vacation in Florida. "I have a better pair, but I got these because of the way they flex. They take wear and tear better with spring activity in the earpieces."

As Auffarth, a restaurateur in the Big Apple, demonstrated by bending his sunglasses backward like double-jointed fingers, his better half, a former actress, shook her head and tapped her shades with a smart nod and wink.

"These were $20," Nancy Auffarth said. "Absolute run-of-the-mill knockoffs, but I love 'em. Unlike David, I don't beat my glasses up. But if you lose glasses frequently like I do, cheap is the way to go.

"I admit I had Ray Bans for 20 years, but ever since I went cheap, I haven't gone back. And I've been fine."

Moscot cautioned that some glasses manufacturers have lulled some frugal buyers into a false sense of security by suggesting that anything dark is safe.

"Yes, the less expensive sunglasses can provide better protection today, and many do. But there is such a thing as too cheap," Moscot said. "At some point, those glasses on the absolute cheapest end of the spectrum are nothing more than dark plastic in a frame. And that's no protection at all.

"You can go less expensive if you want these days, but don't overdo it," Moscot said.

"Think about it. How exactly do you know the cheaper glasses in the drugstore are providing adequate protection? Because they have a sticker on them?"

Bootlegged name-brand clothing, music, and other popular wares should be proof enough that not every product label is a truthful guarantee, Moscot said.